1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packet switching systems, and more specifically to a fast connection setup technique for a packet switched network wherein a self-routing ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switching systems are used or an ATM-cell switched network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional packet switched network which is comprised by ATM switching systems as network nodes, a connection is first established in each node in a header translation table according to the destination of the call before data transfer begins. A central processor is responsible for establishing the connection by receiving signaling cells from a line interface, assembling them into a packet to determine its destination, and assigning a set of incoming and outgoing virtual channel identifiers (VCI) to the packet and updating the header translation table accordingly. Software based operation is employed to achieve the assignment operation. During the data transfer phase, the header translation table is accessed by each data cell for translating its incoming VCI to the corresponding outgoing VCI.
However, it takes long for the central processor to assemble the signaling cells and to assign the VCI using a software based procedure. While satisfactory for applications where the data transfer time is much longer than the call setup time, it is serious for transfer of data of bursty nature such as TCP/IP computer data, resulting in a low utilization of the network.